At a time when it is becoming fashionable to decry and belittle the work of the Reformers, it is meet for us who call ourselves Protestants to refresh our memories, and enlighten the young generation of Scotsmen as to the mighty upheaval in Church and state that is called the Reformation. It was the work of the Almighty and not of men although they were used as honoured instruments. If it had been of human origin only it would have come to naught as it had to contend with and overcome fearful opposition. It was not by the sword of the princes of the world that it was victorious, but by the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Both spiritual and secular despotisms exerted their utmost strength to strangle the young movement at its birth, as Herod and the Pharisees sought the life of Christ, but in vain because it was a movement from on high. Germany was the cradle of this awakening, although it is to be feared the doctrines of the Reformation have little place there to-day; and those evangelical pastors who resist Hitler are being constantly harassed and persecuted. The Pope and Emperor were allies against Luther who was only a poor man’s son, his father being a miner. All the pomp and glory of this world were arrayed on one side. On the other side was the Truth represented by the Bible and its exponent, Luther. There was outward uniformity in Church and state under the two heads I have mentioned who represented the temporal and
spiritual powers. Europe was not divided into the modern kingdoms which have only, comparatively recently, achieved national unity such as Germany and Italy. Some look back wistfully to the days when Europe was one and national frontiers were not so sharply defined, but these mistaken admirers of the past forget what a sink of corruption Europe was politically and morally. The teachers of the people in spiritual matters led scandalous lives. Their attention was directed to outdoor sports, such as hunting and fowling more than to the spiritual edification of their flocks. Avarice, ambition and sensual appetites such as gluttony, drunkenness, and uncleanness were their ruling passions. Their houses were full of children, although celibates, and no books were to be seen in their residences although plenty of gold and silver was displayed. Consequently ignorance and illiteracy prevailed among all classes. Fables and legends of the lives of the saints were the fare that was served from the pulpits by ignorant monks and friars. The Reformation made a clean sweep of all abuses and superstitious practices as well as false doctrine. The Church was re-made both in belief and practice. There was an intellectual revival which opened the door of knowledge and prepared the way for a spiritual revival on a vast scale covering all the nations of Europe although they weren’t all affected to the same extent. Spain and Italy renounced the writings of the Reformers and the Bible which left them in degradation and inertia for centuries under the sway of the Vatican. The Papal States in the centre of Italy were notorious for illiteracy and poverty and lack of modern transport. Those states which embraced the new doctrines sprang into life which manifested itself in industrial activity of every kind where before there had only been sloth and lust. The Scriptures began to be studied in the original languages by all the Reformers, and thus the errors of the Vulgate as used universally in the services of the Roman Church were gradually purged away. The invention of printing gave a stimulus to the multiplication of the Bible in the vernacular tongue of every nation. The humblest peasant, at the end of his daily toil in
field or woodland, could read and study the holy oracles without appealing to priest or Pope, having the witness of the Spirit in his own breast as to the truth of God’s Word. The authority of the church was transferred to the Bible, which became the only rule of life instead of as previously the commandments of men. This spiritual movement could not but have an effect on politics. It introduced liberty and citizen rights which had been unknown before. Peer and peasant were seen to be equal in the sight of God although distinguished among men in the world. The ancient masterpieces of the Greek and Latin writers of the golden age in literature were rediscovered and eagerly perused, which broadened and cultivated and refined the scholars who perused them, who in turn imparted their knowledge to students of divinity instead of the barren disputations of the schoolmen which had sufficed for the Middle Ages.—D. J. M.